If you have not heard about the acronym ”KISS”, it stands for KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID. Kettlebell training can be your KISS approach to fat loss & all-round fitness if you like to keep things ridiculously simple and yet effective. Why make things complicated when you can cut out the fluff and save you time and energy? If you are a busy person and likes to keep things ridiculously simple and yet effective, kettlebell can certainly fit into your lifestyle.

When it comes to losing the extra kilos, looking fabulous, ripped and fit, I’ve often come across people who make it more complicated than it should. “Should I start training for marathon?”, “Join a gym” or “Sign up for a boot camp or Zumba classes” are the things I hear when someone starts getting serious about getting fit. I think the worst thing is do too many things at one time and end up nowhere nearer to the desired body shape and fitness goals.

If you want things to be less complicated, you got to be completely clear about  what’s your ultimate goal? Does the goal serve you? If your goal is to complete a marathon and that makes you happy, then you just got to run. If the answer is to lose bodyweight or lose fat and you want to do it effectively, kettlebell training will be the perfect fit plus it helps with other aspect of fitness that everyone should have.

Is Kettlebell Training A Fad Like Everything Else?

If kettlebell training is a fad, it wouldn’t be around up til this day and be one of the training tool used by many top personal trainers and strength & conditioning coaches today. I first heard of kettlebell training back in 2002 and remembered seeing a Russian guy named Pavel Tsatsouline holding a kettlebell on the internet. Back then, I thought who is this guy and I wasn’t buying into the idea of using a iron ball in one hand can help build strength and boost fat loss. Guess what? I actually went to this same guy and attended his Russian Kettlebell Challenge Workshop in 2011. If kettlebell training is a fad, the movement behind kettlebells won’t be stronger today and many of my clients using the kettlebells with me would not have been so much stronger, leaner and fitter. I would have moved on.

Why Kettlebell Training Is Great For Fat Loss?

In 2010, researchers at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse Exercise and Health Program carried out an American Council of Exercise (ACE) study titled “Kettlebells: Twice The Results In Half The Time” to  analyse the energy cost and exercise intensity of Hardstyle Kettlebell Snatches protocol found in a book called Viking Warrior Conditioning. It was found that the research participants were  expending 20.2 calories at least per minute which is equivalent to the running pace of 1.6km in 6 minutes (6-minute mile pace) after considering the measurement of the blood lactate.

Burning at 20.2 calories per minutes is without a doubt off the chart and would certainly required great deal of effort. Combining the high calorie demand and the increases in Excess Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) caused by intense training effort can only be the perfect formula to losing body fat. Does this mean you can only get the fat loss effects only by doing kettlebell snatches?

Although the study is done on Hardstyle snatches, it is highly possible that any of the ballistic kettlebell exercises such as cleans and swings can be energy costly due to the explosive muscle contraction required. Studies have found that quick muscle contraction consumes significantly more calories than slow muscle contraction probably due to preferential activation of fast-twitch muscle fiber that uses 3 to 4 times more energy than slow twitch muscle fiber.

In a book called the 4-Hour Body, a lady named Tracy Reifkind in her 40s was documented to have lost more than 40kg  doing the kettlebell swings exercise which is the foundational exercise in kettlebell training. And in my personal training services, I have no lack of people experiencing major fat loss from the kettlebell swings. If you are interested in learning the kettlebell swings, check out Mastering The Hardstyle Kettlebell Swings.

Kettlebell Training Increases Core Strength by 70% & Dynamic Balance By 7%

In an ACE sponsored research study: Kettlebells Kick Butt, the researchers found that there was an increase of 70% core strength after 8 weeks of kettlebell training that consisted one-handed swings, two-handed swings, cleans, snatches and Turkish Get Up. Prior to the 8 weeks, the subjects underwent 2 sessions of kettlebell training to learn the proper techniques of the kettlebell lifts used in the study which I feel would have helped the subjects made the huge improvement. To me, it is no surprise that kettlebell training improve core strength that much because all kettlebell exercises require strong core activation to perform them. Especially the Turkish Get Up, it is a brilliant core strength builder. With a stronger set of core muscles, it can only mean less chances of low back troubles.

The same study also found that dynamic balance is improved by 7% which can only be a great thing for preventing falls as we aged.

Kettlebells Training Is a Simple & Yet Reliable Conditioning Tool

If you think about buying a treadmill or taking up a gym membership just for the cardio machine, you are better off in the long run getting yourself a trusty kettlebells. The “Kettlebells Kick Butt” study found that kettlebell training boost aerobic capacity by 13.8%. Just doing the kettlebell swings alone not only gonna challenge your cardiovascular system it will tighten up the bum and core muscles. If you get the right instructions, I will bet that you will be panting away after several sets of kettlebell swings.

And you can always rely on the trusty kettlebells. It will not bail out on you as it will not break down, need no electricity to power it and almost zero maintenance. All you need is a small space and you can get your fitness training with the trusty Russian strength tool. Plus, the cost of owning a small sets of kettlebell is far cheaper than paying for gym memberships.

Kettlebell Training Builds Functional Strength NOT Just Cosmetic Muscles

If you care only about building cosmetic muscles that does nothing more than just for show, then kettlebell training is not for you. There is absolutely nothing wrong with looking great but if you care about how your body can become stronger and improve performance in everyday’s physical tasks and athletic pursuits then Hardstyle kettlebell training can do wonders. Kettlebell training uses predominately both full-body movement patterns and explosive movements that help prepare the body to cope with high demand physical activities. One of my clients who struggled to lose weight before not only lost 23kg he also improves on his golf performance with a stronger body as a results of training with kettlebells. You can find more about his training at this link.

If you are a female and worry about how kettlebell training may make you less feminine and become bulkier, there is no reason for that concern. In fact, you will lose more body fat, become stronger and look better if you train with weights. To find out more about why female will not bulk up from strength training and how to avoid bulking up and lose more fat with weight training, see this link. I have female client who could do 24kg Turkish Get Up and another female client who does 20kg bent press and deadlift more than her own bodyweight and none of them got bulkier and instead look leaner and more athletic.

Here is a video of my female training client below who did a 24kg Turkish Get Up and she carries no muscle bulk.

Why Kettlebells & NOT a Fancy Gym?

If you are after a great looking body, losing body fat, becoming stronger, fitter and perform better at daily physical tasks be it work or sports, kettlebell is all you need. It will help you hack the fat off your body and make you a stronger person. BTW, I am not against having a fancy gym membership if you actually use it or one of your purposes is to check out the pretty boys and girls that hang out in the gym. My point is if you are serious and focus about your training all you need is a simple approach and a simple tool.  And kettlebell training is a definitely simple training approach with a simple tool that can help your achieve your fitness goals. No fancy props required. But be sure that you have the right instructions how to use the kettlebells for best results and save you the trouble of injuring yourself. If you were thinking about getting high quality instructions, be sure to check the certified kettlebell instructors from StrongFirst & Dragon Door.

If you are after a great resource how to best use the kettlebells, do check out this book called Enter The Kettlebell. It will cover all the basics of kettlebell lifts you need to know and comes with 2 fail-proof programs called “Program Minimum” and “Rite of Passage”  to help you get a stronger and leaner body.

But do not completely rely on a book to master all the techniques in the kettlebell. You just can’t beat the hands-on instruction you get from qualified kettlebell instructors from StrongFirst & Dragon Door and the time saved from troubleshooting bad forms.

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